Stolen Sunset
by The Beauty In Horror
Summary: Hello everyone! My name is Margaret and this is my first ever attempt at a Twilight fan fiction story. I picked a very hard one too... Alice's history before she became a vampire. I have written this story as her memoirs... enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Stolen Sunset**

**Preface**

**August 5th ****1920**

"**I want to remember everything, every second, as my life ticks away. I want to record my breaths, my heartbeat, I never want to forget. Let me see one last sunset shimmer over the horizon, before it is stolen, before I am no more. I am leaving my heart within these pages, written and stained for all to see. For within a few short hours I will give my final fight, draw the last bit of strength I have… until the last of my being has forsaken me. I hope that whoever finds this tells my story, so that the world can release it's noose on others of my kind. This is my story, my sanity, me… Mary Alice Brandon"**

**Chapter One **

**August 5****th**** 1916**

**Dear… hhmm…. I'm not quite certain as to what I should call you, we'll return to that. Mother and father were so gracious to give you to me. As you may know, today is my birthday! You were a gift given to me to "express my angst and rebellious tensions" as mother puts it. I know that may give you the wrong impression of me, but I swear on my heart that I am not a bad person. Lately my life has been a tour of trials and mishaps, not to mention I have been getting these paralyzing, deafening migraines. They come on so suddenly, I could be doing anything. In that instance of pain though, my mind is forced to awaken, it's as if the pain is a shockwave to all my cells. In that brief moment life becomes so clear, it's as if anything is possible. **

**Well enough about my migraines, I'm sure they'll pass. Maybe it's just another part of becoming a woman… that was a joke, but honestly we women go through so much as we change throughout the years. I feel myself growing, yet I stand just under five feet tall. It is like I am a pixie (as Cynthia calls me) with torn wings and not a hint of magic within. Cynthia by the way is my lovely little sister, who just had a birthday herself as well. She turned 13 on the 4****th**** of July. She is becoming such a stunning young woman, though she hates it when I fuss around with her hair and beg to pick out her attire for the day. I suppose she is just not as fashion minded as I am, but still the times we share together are some of the happiest! Every Friday night after mother and father have retired, we sneak out to the Olde Missi Diner to grab a milkshake and just talk about everything that we are forced to suppress at home. My parents are **_**very **_**strict Baptists, just like a lot of the families down here in Biloxi. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with religion or God, but I am strongly against the fact of a ritual where someone is telling you that you "shalt not speak of this nor should you do that or you will burn in the depths of Hell for eternity". Everyone has a right to be whoever they want, as long as it's not harming another individual. Everyone was placed here to help one another, not glue their mouths shut so they cannot speak. So due to this, Cynthia and I retreat every Friday and have our talks. **

**Mother had me fitted for my birthday dress a month ago, I always take so long when it comes to shopping or anything pertaining to fashion. There were so many dresses at "some French dress shop", but only one truly caught my eye. Hidden behind the rack of this summer's strappy lace evening gowns was the most beautiful dress I've ever seen. My eyes glowed at the sight of the lace bodice, the chiffon ruffled shoulders and the traces of satin stitched throughout. I darted across the distance between us, snatched it up and coveted every moment. I sprang into an empty dressing room, not even remembering where in the shop my mother was. I peeled off my pink cotton dress with the corset lining as quickly as possible, oh how I hate that revolting dress, but mother always makes me wear something "demure" if we are expecting guests that day. I delicately slipped the new dress on, took a breath and looked into the 3 way mirrors… I could have died right there, it was more breathtaking than I had envisioned. Suddenly a knock came to my door, **

"**Mary Alice! What kind of manners did I bring you up with? How dare you go and run off in public like that!"**

"**Sorry Mother, but you have to see this! I found the absolute perfect dress!"**

**I slowly opened the door and put one foot in front of the other and spun myself around… the moment felt utterly perfect, the dress fit me like it was my second skin. It even gave me more of a feminine body, hugging all the right angles! As I turned one last time I gazed to meet my mother's reaction and was greeted by an icy slap! Everything suddenly went black, then my body felt entirely numb. Merely 5 seconds passed and my vision was still a bit black but I could see a foggy blur that was indeed my mother's face. Suddenly my head pounded, my heart raced. **

"**How you could have the soul to walk in here and grab the dress that Satan himself would marry you in… well on that notion, you have no soul!"**

**Her last 4 words stung my mind violently, then I blinked for a mere second and… it turned out that I was still in the dressing room trying on the new dress. I was clueless as to what had just come over me, did I fall asleep? Did I faint? Did my mother really just slap me? I placed my hand to where I had pictured the slap was delivered. There was no mark, just a slight indescribable tingle. I grew frightened but when I looked up into the mirrors I was again overcome with joy by the vision that the dress portrayed on me. I spun myself out of the room… once again it seemed, and danced to see my mother's face. Somehow though, I was **_**again**_** greeted by an icy slap! This time harder than before… this time it was real.**

"**How you could have the soul to walk in here and grab the dress that Satan himself would marry you in… well on that notion, you have no soul!"**

"_**Those words, she just spoke them 2 minutes ago…"**_

**I forced open my tear filled eyes to see my mother shoving me back into the dressing room and demanding that I remove the "atrocity begging to possess my body". I stumbled up off the floor trying to piece together and make sense out of what I had just witnessed… or had not witnessed. What really happened out there? Was I insane? I removed my coveted dress and mourned at the fact that it would not be coming with me. The pain from my mother's strike lasted about an hour, I was more consumed with the fact that I had just experienced something that was beyond my control… or was it?**

**As I am relaying to you now, I sit here in my white long sleeve gauze and taffeta birthday gown… the dress mother finally picked out. It is certainly not my style but she could have done worse, I atleast got plenty of compliments from everyone who was at my party. Oh yes the party! It was nothing special, we had it here at the house. Mother hired a decorator to convert the drawing room into a party/refreshment room… which was completely decked out in white! I suppose my parents want to keep everyone around them in the know that I am still "pure". Yes I am "pure", I am a person who tries to make a difference in people's lives and helps them the best I can, and yes I am still a virgin… god what an odd term for something of that nature. Though I do think about sex quite often, especially at night when I am alone in my bed, I know I am merely 15 but I cannot help but imagine someone laying beside me at night who I can care for and watch over. **

**My migraines happen a lot when I am sleeping, and each time I have the same vision it seems. As soon as I start drifting into my dreams, my body goes numb, then the shockwave of pain awakens my mind like a burning blaze. Then the vision… I'm sitting somewhere at a counter, my eyes wandering, my hair is chopped quite short and is rather spiky. My skin, well… let's just say I look like I haven't seen the light of day in several centuries. And yet I look breath taking, like a porcelain doll that's just been finished and put on the market for all to see. The vision continues and my eyes are still wandering, it seems as though I am searching for something… or someone. I'm not sure because it always starts to get fuzzy and hazy at this point. I still cannot even place the emotion on my face, if there is any to be found. Just when the haze begins to feel as though it will lift and everything will make sense… the vision ends. I have experienced this same vision 10 times so far, I truly hope that soon it will continue to lead me further, for I suspect that somewhere in these visions lie something very significant… something that may be my destiny… **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**September 18th**** 1916**

**Hello again, please overlook my absences whenever they may occur. As I previously told you, my life has become a tour of trials and mishaps. Just when things give the illusion of brightening up… my horizons darken once again. I am writing to you as I nurse a humungous black and blue trailing from my left cheekbone up to my temple. I will explain how I received this prize winner in a few moments, I need to start my entry with something a bit less intense…**

**School has started up once again, I am now braving my first year of high school. My grades are well above satisfactory, though my teachers all say the same thing…**

"**Where is your head at Miss Brandon?" or "Will you be participating with the rest of the class today Mary Alice? Or shall we all enjoy another round of your waltzing around the classroom?"**

**Every one of them says something similar to that nature! Contrary to what they believe though, I **_**am**_** listening! I don't intentionally dance from class to class, hall to hall. I am an optimistic person and I was always inclined to believe that you should be, it helps get you through the trying days. I will admit one thing… I do like to show off slightly for the boys sometimes. Being cooped up in a house swarmed by crucifixes and multi-colored versions of the bible can truly get to one's self. We can't even discuss the subject of sex! A few months after my 13****th**** birthday, I woke up one Saturday morning with an odd, cramping sensation in my lower abdomen. I was startled at first when I entered the bathroom and discovered that my days of being a child were getting their own tombstone. Then I happily realized,**

"**I'm a woman!"**

**Then a very sharp cramp struck me,**

"**Yes, a woman **_**indeed**_**!"**

**When I informed mother of my transition to womanhhood, she was far from happy…**

"**You're pleased with this, Mary Alice? You think we are **_**supposed **_**to endure this? When we as females go through our monthly cycles each time, we are one step closer to the temptation of lust, rebellion, and further more… sexual intercourse!"**

**I grew very scared at this point, I always thought that this was what women endured each month to stay healthy. Like the body having its own way of telling us,**

"**Hello there! I'm working just fine!"**

**But to hear my mother go on for what seemed like an eternity, well at one point, it made me want to find the nearest knife and just simply remove my reproductive organs so that the beast in me would thrive no longer. Then I thought,**

"**My mother gave birth to Cynthia and I, she went through this as well! So who is she to be unhappy about this? Does she not want grandchildren someday?"**

**I now keep my body's monthly check-ins to myself, except for when Cynthia and I have our talks. It is a terrible truth to bear, not being able to have a great communication strength with your own mother. I feel as though sometimes, she is a big reason for my headaches. Whenever she says something so unbearable, so mind chilling, it strikes my brain as if I had been hit with a hammer… over and over again, and then I get those "now famous" visions. The one at the dress shop in particular, frightens me to my core. I try to just think of it as nothing, but how could my mind predict something so descriptive as my mother inflicting a strike right across my face? And every detail… her words were exactly the same… I heard her say them twice, no difference.**

**Oh no, I'm trailing off again… I apologize! It's just getting more difficult to concentrate on so much of my life now, since these visions are showing no sign of haulting anytime soon. I still feel there **_**must**_** be something behind it all, there has to be.**

**But anyhow, now for the more intense part of this entry…**

**Last Friday I was gathering my books and such, preparing to make my way home from school. Thankfully my house is less than five minutes away from Cherry Hill High, it's not a rather large building but it serves its purpose. So I was walking down Oak Bridge Lane when an ominous looking vehicle approached my sight. All black, not a speck of brightness splashed the car's exterior. I stopped dead in my tracks, I was taken breathless as the car came to a stop barely ten feet from me. The right front passenger window was rolled down halfway and a figure of sorts emerged its head as if to take a peak. I could soon decipher from the facial shape that the figure was a man, donning a rich black hat that covered most of his head and eyes. Still in awe, I stayed put not making any sudden moves, then my fingers began to tremble, my teeth chattered and my heart was in a race with my mind, it was happening again… the numbness that now become so familiar seeped through my veins and nerves, then the shockwave of pain jolted me so violently I began to twitch uncontrollably until my body gave way and the last thing I could see was the concrete getting closer and closer to my face…**

**I awoke God only knows how many hours later in my bedroom, I was placed just so as if I was being tucked into my crib as an infant with my head nestled on my pillow. The migraine vanished and I felt refreshed. I sat up and gazed toward my window, it was twilight my favorite time of the day. The sun was setting into the darkness of the horizon, the night capturing day like a thief in hiding. I enveloped myself in the moment and glided my hand down the edge of my pillow until I felt something unfamiliar. I lifted up my pillow and reached for the velour covered box that was underneath. I gazed at the black material, placed my hands to open the box and was both astonished and delighted to see a blackish brown tinged satin/lace like necklace, actually more like what you would call a choker, delicately laying inside attached with a note. I unfolded the paper and read it aloud…**

"**To Miss Mary Alice,**

**You may not believe it now, but you hold a very powerful gift, you have been blessed with the visions that some may call "witchcraft" or "satanic", but I assure you that you will be needed in the lives of many… to help, to comfort, to conquer! Please accept this necklace as I think you will find it most pleasant and comforting to wear!**

**Until we meet again…**

**Cameron"**

**I placed the note on my nightstand and clasped the choker around my neck. A strange wave of an almost euphoric feeling started to pulse in my jugular, then traveled throughout the rest of my body… and in that instance, it felt as though I had found something that was a part of my entire being…**


End file.
